Polar Training Course

Participants picked up at their accommodation at 08:30. This first day is spent indoors on a combination of lectures and planning and sorting gear and ends with a 2 hour drive to our base at Mýrdalsjökull.

• Gear check and discussion.
• Arctic expeditions: Specific expedition requirements; equipment, insurance issues, general safety, rescue, polar-bears, logistic issues, communication (Iridium/GlobStar other). Spiced up with real stories and pictures from the field.
• Antarctic expeditions: Specific expedition requirements. As above (but no bears).
• Expedition nutrition and food preparation: Food, fuel, stoves etc. Tricks of the trade and pitfalls to avoid.
• Food packing and intro on communal gear for the expedition.

Lunch at a local restaurant (not included), dinner at a restaurant (not included).

Accommodation – camping; Base camp style

Getting sorted to go out in the field – pulka sledges need packing, food needs sorting, getting acquainted with tents and cooking equipment and setting up a navigation plan for the days to come.

Short into to roped glacier travel and the use of a mechanical advantage for crevasse rescue.

Accommodation – camping; Base camp style.

Heading up on Mýrdalsjökull with an all-terrain truck. The day starts with some basic instruction on skiing (Nordic) and different ski styles, skins etc. We might move gear to a suitable campsite – making sure we have plenty of time to set up camp, building wind-walls and going over the small but important details of winter / expedition camping.

Camping on the glacier.

We are on the move, heading up onto the main Ice-Cap of Mýrdalsjökull, working on our ski technique and covering some navigation issues associated with travelling in white out conditions. This time setting up camp should work like a well-oiled machine.

Camping on the glacier.

Time for some roped up travel, we are heading down towards the Sólheimajökull glacier – and as the 8km long outlet glacier pulls on the main ice cap it gets pulled apparat, forming mighty crevasses. The topic of this day is travelling with the pulka sledges as a rope team through the crevassed glacier in a safe and efficient manner. At a suitable location we will stop to do practical training in hauling a teammate out of the icy depths of a crevasse.

Camping on the glacier.

We are heading out through the Sólheimajökull outlet glacier. As we come further down to a warmer climate, we will need to shoulder our loads – this is where the real glory of expedition life comes through, carrying the heavy loads, pulkas and skis down through the glacier passed the herds of tourists on their glacier adventures. Our destination is the IMG base at Sólheimajökull, where a private transfer awaits us to bring us back to Reykjavík. On the way, one final stop for a well-deserved meal – and, if you like – a beer or two (not included).